Thursday, October 5, 2017

Civil Engineering Students Experience Hands-On Learning

Suez North America, the company
that operates the Springfield Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility, has
partnered with the University of Hartford’s Water Quality Engineering class
this semester to learn more about how the Facility’s wastewater system is
operating.The goal is to identify
opportunities for improving treatment efficiency or for saving energy, which
reduces both operational cost and carbon footprint.

Professor Todd Brown’s civil engineering
seniors, Hussain Aljafr, Sahan Bin Shawyah, and Geoff Hook, were at the plant
on Tuesday, October 3, to measure the rate at which the microorganisms in the
treatment system use up the oxygen in the water. This indicates both the amount
of pollutants present at that point in the process and how quickly the
pollutants are being removed.

In the CE 420 course, the students
learn the physical, chemical, and biological theories of water treatment and
wastewater treatment and disposal; operational principles of various treatment
plant components; and state and federal regulatory standards.